And so it begins. #2: Catch 22.

So today I spent a few hours in the shed working on a few things. I took a couple of drywall mudding knives and made cabinet scrapers out of them that actually didn’t do too bad on some oak I had laying around. Only problem is that they have to be sharpened more often than I think a regular scraper would need. Then I took a bunch of pictures of my new Stanley SW 60 1/2 LABP for a review I am planning.

While I had the LABP out, I decided to try it out on some wood scrap. I have no idea what kind of wood it was. But I realized I had a little issue. The 2’x10’ utility bench I have in my shed is not very flat. I wasn’t going for perfection with the pieces I was working on. Just trying the new plane out and getting a feel for how it goes through the wood. Not being flat caused all kinds of problems with planing smoothly. What I need is a woodworking bench, but can’t afford to buy one. I want to make one. It’s just that I kind of need a workbench in order to make a workbench. That’s the catch 22.

Anyone know of a way to flatten out the particle board top of my current utility bench? I don’t want to go too much higher than it is now since it is rather tall, so adding wood or anything that would make it taller while leveling it won’t work. If it matters, the bench is built into the shed. If I could just make this bench work, that would be awesome.

I do not have much of a work bench – no vises, bench dogs, etc. Not to mention I did not feel like working in my garage all winter long with no insulation or heating. So I solved both problems by buying a sheet of 1/2” x 4’ x 2’ sheet of MDF from Home Depot to make a shooting board. I ripped a small 1/2” x 1/2” x 2’ piece off the end and then cut that strip for use later for a stop and cleat for the board later. Then with the remaining piece I cut it down the length leaving one half about 3” wider than the other for the plane to rest on while shooting. I glued those two big pieces together. Once dry I glued the cleat onto the bottom and the stop onto the top on the opposite end of the cleat.

Now with the shooting board I can use the stop to do normal flatness and thickness planing and I can still shoot the edges of the boards when necessary…all from the comfort of my kitchen couter top. Because the shavings clean up so easily compared to saw dust, my wife does not even care (much.)

If you are interested send me a message and I can take pictures and send it along do you.